Playing Catch-Up

You make your lists, you plan your week, and then something silly turns everything upside down. Or many somethings. It’s been a strange last ten days….

On the disappointing and mildly annoying front: technology has not been my friend. My computer contracted a virus so terrible that it needed a week with Dr. Geek Squad to recover. So I tried to keep up with everything I was supposed to be doing using my husband’s decade-old, backup machine, crammed into a corner of his office. What’s more, the iPad I ordered, which should have arrived two weeks ago, was snatched away a mere three miles from my house! (OK, it was recalled; something to do with an ID hardcoded into the device.)

And then it rained in Los Angeles this morning. In JUNE! I’m not sure where summer’s gone, though I hear Texas might have found it.

I’m pretty sure I’ve figured it out the message in all of this: the universe is stating clearly: “Step away from the machines, Tammy. Step away, and read a book.”

At the same time, some very good things have been happening, on both a personal and professional front. My husband and I made a new friend (an old college acquaintance of his who we ran across recently), someone I hired at my day job is off and running in a very satisfactory manner, and there are exciting possibilities afoot for book promotion.

Most exciting is a new blog I started with fellow author Simon Wood (www.simonwood.net). Simon writes books that keep you up at night. He has an eclectic professional background, he’s British, and he’s a kick in the pants. He’s one of those guys who starts insulting you fifteen minutes into a conversation (and expects to be insulted right back). We get along fine.

The relevant bit is that Simon, too, has a mystery about a racecar driver coming out this year (it’s already released in Britain, but we don’t get it until September, which I don’t mind, because it means mine comes out first). So we started a blog together, all about racing. Or at least our opinions on it. I’ll blog Mondays, he’ll blog Wednesdays, and we’ll compare and argue about our opinions on different topics on Fridays. We hope you’ll join us and chime in at Two for the Road: twofortheroadblog.blogspot.com.